If it wasn’t for Michael Bisping wining the UFC middleweight title, Tim Kennedy may have never returned to MMA competition.

The 37-year-old fighter is resuming his MMA career to face Rashad Evans in a middleweight bout at UFC 205 in New York this November. Kennedy hasn’t fought in two years, as the last time he set foot inside the octagon was against Yoel Romero at UFC 178, where he lost via technical knockout. Since then, Kennedy was discontent with the sport and stopped competing, but said he would be open for a comeback if the perfect opportunity presented itself.

And that opportunity came to fruition when Bisping, the man Kennedy defeated two years ago, became the UFC middleweight champion along with a few other factors.

“Michael Bisping winning the title that was a contributing factor,” Kennedy told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I love fighting, and even when I’m 65 and I’ll have not been fighting for 25, 30 years, I’ll still miss it, you know, like, ‘Man, look at that young buck. I kind of want to beat him up a little bit’. And that’s probably going to be in there forever.

Whenever I see a plane that flies over Iraq or Afghanistan and my friends are on it, I’m sad I’m not on it. There is that aspect or that element that’s in us that makes us want to be part of those things that’s never going to die in me. So you know, seeing Michael Bisping win the title I was like, ‘No way I can let that guy be the champion or remain the champion, which he wouldn’t if I fought him. That’s obvious’. And the will and desire to get back in there and see how I do as ….View full article